The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-02-12
SHOOTING AN OIL WELL.
furious speetnc'cs incident to Natural
Gas Product lon Dangerous Work.


'urious spestac'cs incident to Natural
Gas observation-disclosures Work.
For two hours recently stood in n
blcak wind to witness the process of
shooting an oil well. This il accom-
p,ished by letting down with strong
wire, ON wintllass, tin tubes about three
inches in diameter and fourteen feet long,
illcd with hnitro-glycerinc. Each of these
tubes viii hold about twenty quarts of
shc liquid. IF the blast is to be made at
The bottom Of the well, then the first can
y tube is let down to rest upon tho bot
ton, but if the stratum of rocks which 1t
iJ desired 20 "sloot' be above the bottom,
aS Is Frequently the case, then smaller
tubes arc fastened upon the first charged
nIte for support. These may be thirty
" fifty feet long, or even more. The
owcr end of this tube, OF course, rests on
the bottom of the well, and sustains the
charged tubes, which are carefully let
down one upon tho other until sixty,
slightly, or even hundred quarts are thus
deposited. In doing this every move
ment must be made with the utmost care,
and is attended with great danger.
The liquid weighs about four pounds
to the quart, hence . great weigf. must
be provided for. On the upper end of the
topmost tube an explosive cap is placed.
Tho charge is exploded by dropping an
iron slug, called, in the nomenclature of
the oil country, Ego devil" Cautious
persons keep at good distance. The
operator gives the alarm and let's the slug
drop. In well 1000 feet deep, filed
x,.;.t ,.1 l,, fx.-,
ty or even twenty-five seconds in de-
scending. If the well is clear of course
its descent is more rapid. The first SEN
sation one feels is . heavy thud, like the
dropping of great weight on the rocks.
The next trembling of the ground, and
then rushing roar. followed by a hoarse,
weird, prolonged whistle, ending in a
slight explosion, and stream of sand,
oil, water, pulverized ego devil" and
tubes, and black gas goes shrieEing into
the air in dense column 100 feet or
more, and all is over.
Ii the blast is an effective one it is i'm
metliately followed by flow of oil or
gas. Often q dead and worthless well
will at once begin to fiow after the shock.
One well near Butler that was dead anl
Worthless WIS aWthcllcl W ip-
tivity by heavy blast and rewarded tie
owner with flow of 700 barrels of Oil
daily.
a sixty quart blast costs the owner of
the well about 800 including the labor
Of placing it. This labor, as has been
said, is attended with great danger.
Sometimes, when the well is full of gas,
the torpedo, after descending few hun
dred feet, will be driven violently out of
the well. In that case it is certain to ex-
ploile by hitting the timbers of the der
rick or when it reaches the ground in its
descent. In either case general destruc-
ton OF everything is certain.
Sometimes, upon the explosion of a
torpedo in wei, u large volume of oil is
thrown into the air. This is often sight
of surprising beauty, the oil breaking as
it falls into countless drops and each drop
becoming prism to reflect the suns rays
in matchless coloring.
So far the gas wells and oil wells are
treated alike.-Chicago Tribune.